


rainbow scales

by Significant_What



Series: i see fire [1]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dragons, Character's Name Spelled as Viktor, Childhood Friends, First Meetings, Getting to Know Each Other, M/M, Pre-Relationship, and there will be more dragons, dragon sanctuary, yes there are dragons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-26
Updated: 2019-05-26
Packaged: 2020-03-17 19:16:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18971386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Significant_What/pseuds/Significant_What
Summary: Viktor Nikiforov is seventeen, tall and beautiful, and he seems to know almost as much about dragons as Yuuri, who has lived his whole life in and out of the sanctuary.





	rainbow scales

**Author's Note:**

> this is me, indulging in a new au that i've been thinking about for literal years now, and seeing if there's anyone else out there that wants a modern day dragons au with childhood best friends viktuuri and eventual confident!yuuri. that's all.
> 
> i came up with the dragons myself, and i have MUCH plans for them. so if you want to keep up with new parts (that will not be published anytime soon, only when i feel like writing them) i encourage you to subscribe to the series.

Yuuri is thirteen years old when he is first introduced to Viktor Nikiforov.

Viktor Nikiforov is seventeen, tall and beautiful, and he has the longest hair Yuuri has ever seen on a boy. It’s tamed into a French braid that flows over his shoulder like a creek of silver, and Yuuri is in awe. He thinks he hasn’t seen anything so beautiful outside the dragon sanctuary before.

While he stares (and _oh_ , does he stare, because how can he _not_ ), Yuuri is told that Viktor’s parents are here to see the new _genbu_ they rescued last month. Yuuri’s job, in the meanwhile, is to entertain Viktor however he sees fit, since he is closer to Viktor in age than Mari is.

”Hi, I’m Viktor!” Viktor smiles, bright and heart shaped, and Yuuri swallows hard. He’s shy by nature, and it does not help that Viktor is older and taller and just generally _more_ than any of the other kids Yuuri usually has to entertain in these situations. Even Viktor’s clothes seem fancier, the colors brighter and the cut more elegant. Maybe it’s a cultural thing. Yuuri wonders about that when he shakes Viktor’s hand. After all, he’s never met anyone from Russia before.

”I’m Yuuri”, Yuuri says, ”pleasure to meet you.”

The adults take their leave, supposedly towards the West wing of the building where they’re keeping the _genbu_ for now. Yuuri and Viktor are left standing in the hall in a rather awkward silence during which Yuuri mostly looks down at their feet and clenches and unclenches his hands. Usually there is no shortage of things to do around the main building, with the grand yard and enormous library and secret passages to the kitchens, but that doesn’t seem like enough, now. Viktor seems like so much _more_ than that, and Yuuri wants to impress Viktor, and he has a feeling none of those things are going to do the trick.

With a quick glance up at Viktor’s expectant face, Yuuri clears his throat slightly and shifts on his feet. ”Do you – do you like dragons?”

It might be a silly question, but dragons are one of the easiest topics of conversation for Yuuri. He knows everything about dragons; he was born into a _dragonaria_ and has been raised to be in charge of the sanctuary one day. It’s Yuuri’s _job_ to know about dragons, and luckily, he _loves_ it.

Viktor lets out a small laugh that makes Yuuri look up once again. His blue eyes gleam with interest when Yuuri locks eyes with him, and Yuuri feels a shiver run down his spine. ”I love dragons!” Viktor exclaims with a smile, this time a little softer than before.

Yuuri smiles back.

**

Viktor Nikiforov is seventeen, tall and beautiful, and he seems to know almost as much about dragons as Yuuri, who has lived his whole life in and out of the sanctuary.

Truth be told, Yuuri is a little jealous to hear about Viktor’s visits to the sanctuaries in Europe and South America. Yuuri himself has only ever been to different parts of the East Asian Dragon Sanctuary, spreading as far as the Northern parts of Taiwan. The European sanctuaries have always seemed to exciting to Yuuri, especially the one in the Alps, and Viktor says he’s been there _six times_.

”I was visiting Chris – Christophe Giacometti, do you know him?” Viktor asks as Yuuri leads him outside to the pier, but doesn’t give Yuuri a chance to answer as he continues: ”He took me to see the snow dragons up in the mountains! Oh, and they have a _cuélebre_ , did you know?” Yuuri knows. ”Of course we didn’t get anywhere close, that would have been too dangerous, but I did see his tail. It had thorns, Yuuri, sharp like the _zmej_ teeth but twice as large.”

Viktor talks a lot. Yuuri doesn’t mind; Viktor has a lot to say, and he knows about dragons, and his voice is nice to listen to. Besides, it’s refreshing to listen to someone else talk about dragons with as much passion as Yuuri himself does. Yuuri is aware that everyone he knows probably is already tired of listening to him talk. So, listening to Viktor is… nice.

They have to quiet down once they get to the boat, though, but Viktor doesn’t seem to mind. He sits at the back just like Yuuri instructs him to, and keeps his mouth shut as Yuuri takes the rod and starts guiding them down the stream and deeper into the valley.

Yuuri doesn’t know if he should tell Viktor where they’re going rather than keep it a surprise. Viktor seems like one of those people who like surprises, but Yuuri doesn’t really know him so he can’t be sure, and some of the dragons they have in this part of the sanctuary can be rather intimidating at first. But from what Viktor has been telling Yuuri about his interest in dragons, it seems like he’s now one to be easily scared by them. Yuuri has only seen pictures of a _cuélebre_ , since they don’t live anywhere in the EADS, but but even the pictures made him a little uneasy.

So Yuuri keeps quiet, hoping that what he’s about to show Viktor is a good surprise. The _suzaku_ aren’t violent, after all, but a nesting dragon is always a little bit of a risk. But Yuuri has known this dragon his whole life, has become friends with her, and he knows his way around the sanctuary well enough to know where to go to keep a safe distance, even with a stranger accompanying him.

They round the last nook in the stream and Yuuri hears Viktor gasp when he sees the dragon.

”That’s a _suzaku_!” Viktor whisper-yells, and Yuuri smiles. He knew this would be enough to impress him. ”There are only three left in the whole world!”

”Four”, Yuuri corrects. ”We just sent two to a sanctuary in Canada, to let this one nest in peace – _suzaku_ are not very good with packs.” The boat flows quietly down the stream until Yuuri uses his rod to stop so they can admire the sleeping dragon. ”She laid three eggs just last week. Once they hatch, we’re going to have to send one of them to Canada with the others, but _kaasan_ says I get to name the other two.”

It’s a tradition, really; Yuuri’s grandfather got to be there when the last _suzaku_ hatched, and his father let him name her then. As Yuuri now is the same age as his grandfather was then, Yuuri’s mother thought it to only be right.

Yuuri spares a look at Viktor. Yuuri doesn’t have many friends, and because of security reasons he’s not really allowed to bring anyone this close to the dragons. He’s not even sure if bringing _Viktor_ here is allowed, but seeing the look of admiration and wonder on Viktor’s eyes makes any possible punishment worth it. Yuuri is happy to share this with someone else, and even if he’s only met Viktor less than an hour ago, he already hopes they can be friends. He thinks he’d really like to have a friend like Viktor.

”She’s so _beautiful_ ”, Viktor sighs, leaning against the edge of the boat. Yuuri has to lean back a little to keep them balanced right. ” _Suzaku_ has always been my favorite, you know”, he continues, twirling the end of his plait between his fingers. ” _Maman_ would show me pictures of all kinds of dragons as soon as I started recognizing shapes as a baby, but ever since I can remember I’ve liked _suzaku_ the best.”

Yuuri smiles. ”Me too.”

They look at the _suzaku_ – Sayua – in silence, the only noise coming from the water gently lapping the sides of the boat. Yuuri has a feeling they could spend hours here, just looking at her while she nests. There’s something really calming about it, so peaceful and quiet, and Yuuri takes a deep breath. The sanctuary has always been a place of escape for him; whenever he’s felt anxious or scared, like the world is too big and too loud and too much, he’s come here to care for the dragons. He feels calm, with them, in a way he never does with people. He has no way to really explain it.

Sayua shifts in her sleep. Not much, but enough to make her scales glint in the sun that shines through the foliage. She breathes in deeply, then lets all the air out again, and in her breath Yuuri can see a few sparks that are a mere indication of the fire that burns in the dragon’s soul.

”I think it’s the rainbow scales.”

Yuuri turns to look at Viktor, then again at Sayua as he remembers their conversation. The scales on her curved back reflect the light and make everything look more colorful. Yuuri remembers being small and coming to the sanctuary with his dad and spending hours just watching Sayua and being around her, letting her get used to him and vice versa. Yuuri’s mom has one of his old drawings framed in her office, portraying Yuuri himself hugging Sayua by her neck. It’s not too good of a picture, considering Yuuri was five years old when he made it, but Sayua is immediately recognizable by the colors of her scales.

”I think so, too”, Yuuri hums, not being able to keep the small wistful smile off his face. ”I’ve always loved her scales, as long as I can remember.” Yuuri keeps looking at the dragon, but in the corner of his eye he can see Viktor turning to look at him. He fights to keep the blood from rushing to his cheeks, flustered by the attention. ”I know it probably sounds weird, but Sayua is more like a family member to me than just a dragon we take care of. I get sad if I don’t get to see her for a while, and she’s a really good listener.”

Viktor probably thinks he’s stupid, or a loser with no friends. He would be right; most of Yuuri’s friends are dragons, and the human ones he does have he isn’t that close with. There’s Yuuko, of course, but she’s a couple of years older than him, and besides she doesn’t like dragons quite as much as Yuuri does. No one does, really – even though Yuuri feels like Viktor might.

Then there’s Mari, but she’s Yuuri’s _sister_ – and you can’t very well be friends with your sister, now, can you? And anyway, Mari has always been more interested in the administrative side of EADS, not really the dragons themselves, and Yuuri always feels like they don’t have that much to talk about.

(Yuuri is not lonely, per se, but he does admit that it might be good to have some human friends for a change.)

”I wish I had a dragon friend like that”, Viktor says then. Yuuri looks at him and sees that he has once again turned to look at the _suzaku_ , now with a sort of sad look on his beautiful face. ”Maybe then I wouldn’t feel so lonely all the time.”

How someone like Viktor Nikiforov could constantly feel lonely, Yuuri doesn’t understand, but he does know what it feels like to be lonely. And Yuuri feels bad for him, though he will never say that out loud; Viktor might not want pity, even though that’s never Yuuri’s intention. So he just settles to the silence once more, watching Sayua and listening to the water lapping against their small boat. And when it’s time for them to go back, Yuuri listens to Viktor gush about the dragon, and how Chris is going to be _so_ jealous, and how he had thought this would be just another boring trip to yet another dragon sanctuary with speeches and formal dinners, but in the end –

”I think this has been the best day of my _life_.”

Yuuri blushes and looks anywhere that isn’t Viktor’s face. But when the Nikiforovs are about to leave and Viktor runs after Yuuri to exchange e-mail addresses (”You _have_ to keep me updated on Sayua, and the other dragons, and I’ll send you pictures when I next visit Chris!”), Yuuri has to admit that he agrees. This is hands down one of the best days of his life, too.


End file.
